EL GOUNA, Egypt, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Safe Harbour MENA, a CineGouna initiative at the ongoing El Gouna Film Festival (GFF), is helping displaced filmmakers from the Middle East and North Africa develop their projects and reconnect with the film industry.
Launched in partnership with the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the International Emerging Film Talent Fund, it's the program's first region-focused edition and targets filmmakers displaced within the region who face barriers to professional networks, funding and project development.
GFF opened its ninth edition on Oct. 15 in the Red Sea resort city of El Gouna, running until Oct. 23. The festival features 77 films from around the world alongside screenings, discussions and industry events.
Safe Harbour MENA selected four filmmakers, including Syrian filmmaker Ezel Manay and Sudanese Ahmed Nagm Eldin. Through online preparation and an intensive in-person program in El Gouna, participants receive training, individual project guidance and meetings with producers, distributors and festival representatives.
Manay, who moved to Türkiye after the war in Syria, said the program gave him his first chance to pitch Temporary Protection, a story rooted in his refugee experience and centered on his father.
"I thought that the matter was limited to funding, but I was surprised that there were people I wanted to meet before and found them here," he said.
Manay added that a producer had emerged as a potential collaborator and described such connections as a form of funding in themselves.
Eldin left Sudan several months after the war broke out and is now based in the United Arab Emirates, developing Sabary, his first feature fiction film.
It follows a young man from the eastern Red Sea Mountains who journeys with a retired wrestler from the Nuba Mountains in Sudan. Rather than depicting fighting directly, the film explores the conflict's effects on people and places, identity, cultural memory, and the psychological tensions carried by Sudanese men, using traditional songs, dances, folklore, and magical realism.
Ahmed Shawky, head of CineGouna Funding, said the festival had supported filmmakers at different career stages since its founding, and Safe Harbour MENA extends that commitment to filmmakers displaced within the region.
Shawky called the results "very fruitful," noting that participants pitched to industry guests and began discussions with producers, distributors and festival delegates. Certificates are due to be handed out, and he said all indicators point to a "distinguished" first edition.
